The Post Pattern's featured story this week was originally teased in our initial newsletter. Our historians believe September 17th was the first time two Buboltz cousins set foot on the field of competition to face off against each other. On the campus of UW-Parkside in Kenosha, Micah Vanderhoof and Jack Simmons joined 996 other racers from 40 schools to compete . As cross country may be a new sport for our readers, we wanted to provide an "inside look" into a sport that is quickly becoming a favorite in our household.
Micah has been running cross country since his grade school days. When father Collin received a call to lead Pilgrim Lutheran in Menomonee Falls, Micah enrolled at Kettle Moraine Lutheran and joined the cross country team. In his first year at KML, Micah, running for the JV team, posted a season best 21:49. Now in his senior year, and having hit the same growth spurt his father and brother did late in their HS careers, Micah is enjoying a great senior campaign. His long stride and easy running motion has dropped his PR substantially. Kettle has a deep cross country team and so Micah has been fighting to hold a spot on the varsity roster. In XC (as the cool kids write it), typically the weekly lineup depends on how the runners do in the previous competition. Showing his competitive spirit, Micah bested 82 other runners to place first overall in the JV meet on September 13th to earn his place in the varsity lineup heading into Parkside...talk about clutch!
Over in Lake Mills, cousin Jack Simmons is a "newbie" to the cross country world. Jack, who grew up playing club soccer (he is a member of the SC Wave soccer club in Madison), has had a natural endurance as a runner. Dubbed the "Energizer Bunny" by his soccer fans, Jack has long been able to run for extended periods of time. Upon his arrival at Lakeside Lutheran Jack joined the football team and suited up for his uncle Justin in a few JV games. After a conditioning practice lead to being discovered by the XC coach, Jack ultimately made a "business decision" and traded in his cleats for running spikes entering his sophomore year. As Lakeside's team is one of the strongest in Division 2 (ranked #3 in this week's coaches poll), like his cousin experienced, a spot on the varsity roster was no guarantee. However, in the meets leading up to Parkside Jack slowly moved up the pecking order as he posted a PR of 17:57 (which makes this editor tired just writing) thus setting up the Clash of Cousins.
In the first of two clashes, the UW-Parkside course offered a challenge right from the start. The first mile was all uphill which posed no problem for Micah and Jack. After a downhill 2nd mile through the woods, a challenging third mile pushed our runners to their limits. By the end of the race, Micah had set another PR while Jack's team took 3rd out of 32 teams (1st in D2). The KML team placed 6th overall and 2nd in D2.
With the first contest in the books, the staff of the Post Pattern was better prepared to capture the 2nd meeting the following week at Nagawaukee Park in Hartland. Included below are several clips to take our readers into the action.
In our first clip, you can see the Lakeside team in blue (third group from the right) while the Kettle team is second from the left in green. As the race starts, Jack moves towards the front while Micah is more comfortable starting the race in the middle group.
For our readers who are more comfortable watching football, volleyball, or basketball games from the stands (or even the couch), there is one obvious observation about taking in a XC meet. Spectators don't just watch XC...they participate. As the next video shows, our beat reporters had to quickly move to a second location to be positioned to cheer our runners on. Some meets, like the Parkside event the week prior, spectators can log upwards of 10 miles while watching multiple races!
One of the great parts of XC events is the spirit of good sportsmanship and encouragement. In the following clip, you hear spectators cheering their athletes on. It is a common occurrence to witness people cheer for complete strangers. XC runners have shared that these efforts help to boost their will during a race. In this particular example, Jack did a double take when he heard his godfather cheering from the sides!
As the cousins neared the 2 mile mark and the turn for the final leg, it was an impressive view to see Micah and Jack running so smoothly. After huffing it around the course to get a good view, our reporters were a bit jealous at how easy Micah's stride appeared.
With the majority of the course now in their rear view mirror, Jack and Micah dug deep for the final leg. After running almost 3 miles, most people would be quite tired and ready to quit. In cross country they do just the opposite...it's time for a sprint to the finish!
When the dust had settled, the Lakeside team finished 4th out of 32 teams (and 1st in D2) while the KML team placed 19th overall and 5th in D2. Jack clocked in with a time of 18:12 and Micah, as has been his form this year, set another PR, this time at 19:23. If you recall from the beginning of our story, this is an improvement of almost 2 1/2 minutes from his freshman year!
The Post Pattern would like to congratulate both cousins on a fantastic year so far and for giving these fans something to cheer about! If you're in the neighborhood, the conference, sectionals, and hopefully Wisconsin State Championship meets will be held during the last few weekends of October. Come check it out...just remember to bring a comfortable pair of shoes!